With Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet drawing criticisms from consumers and reviewers alike, the online retailer has revealed a software update will arrive in a couple weeks to address some user complaints.

The Kindle Fire, which arrived in November, drew some praise from reviewers for its low price, but it also received ample criticism for being "sluggish and jerky" to the point of being "ornery." AppleInsider published an in-depth review of the device last month, noting that the "deep cuts" Amazon made to achieve the Kindle Fire's $199 price tag may have erased much of the tablet's "potential allure."

The New York Times reported on Sunday that common user complaints include the lack of external volume controls, poor placement of the off switch, long load times for web pages and the lack of privacy on the device. Parents have also complained that the Kindle Fire lacks parental controls, thereby allowing kids to access pornography or make purchases.

Negative feedback on the Fire came to a head last week when usability guru Jakob Nielsen pronounced the Fire's user experience as "disappointingly poor." His report especially took issue with Amazon's Silk browser, calling it "clunky and error-prone."

In an interview with the Times, Nielsen, who co-founded consulting firm Nielsen Norman Group, predicted that the Fire would be a failure. I cant recommend buying it, he said.

For its part, Amazon is aware of the complaints and is working to address them. Spokesman Drew Herdener told the Times that an over-the-air update for the Fire is coming in "less than two weeks." The update will bring improvements to performance and multitouch navigation and will allow users edit the recent activity list for greater privacy.

The company continues to remain optimistic about the Kindle Fire. It noted late last month that the device has been its best-selling product since pre-orders began, though it declined to provide actual sales figures. CEO Jeff Bezos said in October that the retailer was building "millions more" units than originally planned.

Analysts believe Amazon could ship as many as 5 million Kindle Fires this quarter. Market research firm IHS declared Amazon the No. 2 tablet maker earlier this month, forecasting shipments of 3.9 million units in the fourth quarter.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has been tracking customer opinions on Amazon's own website. According to him, the number of customers offering five-star reviews has dipped since Nov. 18, falling from 50 percent to 47 percent. One-star reviews of the device stand at roughly 13 percent.

I would have expected things to be even worse at this point, he said, adding that the Fire's budget pricing could save it. Amazon has a lot of air cover to have a B-level product.

Amazon's strategy may be to quickly release an upgraded Kindle after learning from its initial foray into the tablet market. AppleInsider reported in September that the company is using the current 7-inch Fire to test the waters and is planning an 8.9-inch version for next year.

The Times believes that a new Fire model could arrive as soon as next spring. One recent report cited supply chain sources as claiming that an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire would arrive in the middle of the second quarter of 2012.

Nielsen believes next year's upgraded version will be Amazon's last shot at success with the Kindle Fire. If thats a failure, then the Fire is doomed to the dust pile of history, he said.

Imagine that. You don't get $500 worth of goodness in a small, $200 machine that takes 15 hardware shortcuts using software written by a company who's never manufactured anything other than an e-reader - compared to a tablet made by a company with a slew of elegant iDevices designed for quality and best possible user experience under its belt.

Who coulda' saw this coming??

Seriously, these iPad killers are going down one after another faster than each next rising then falling Republican presidential great hope!

[PS: I'm not being pro- or anti-Republican here, but that is what's been happening both to all the "great (insert OS or 'OS fork' here) hope tablets" and those folks, LoLz...]

PPS: This doesn't mean word will get out in time to stop Amazon from selling a slew of these to the unwary and budget-minded - and likely getting a better 2nd Gen machine out there. Amazon is a marketing machine - and the Fire does work after a fashion - with most people having nothing to compare it to.

Hope it fails to be honest. Don't want it one this side of the pond. Bad enough that we have to support customers with Android phones, don't want a load of these craplets to support too.

This is based on our interactions with the great unwashed who buy Android handsets and who have no idea how to work them or setup email or fix it when its broken. The consistent complaints about it running slow/crashing/battery life are a right pain in the ass. At least it seems to have pushed these users to get iPads over Android tablets which we are thankful for.

I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.

Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.

The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.

Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"

You can't quantify how much I don't care -- Bob Kevoian of the Bob and Tom Show.

Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.

I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.

Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.

The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.

Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"

The unfortunate position for Amazon is that there are hardware issues not just software, so if you bought one your screwed if they release a rev 2 device within weeks of the original with volume controls etc.

Software updates will only fix so much. You can't remove the crap from Android that lives in it's core, no matter how much it gets updated. Just ask any of the unfortunate people who have already bought Android tablets that are still waiting on software updates to fix their many issues.

A software update may fix a minor bug or it may add a feature that is missing, but a software update will not make the device smooth. A software update will never fix the lack of volume controls on the device. A software update will never fix the retarded placement of the power button on the device. A software update will not unclunk the clunkiness from the device. As for the people claiming that it's mainly good for reading books, a regular Kindle is much better for that purpose and also cheaper.

Anybody even mentioning the iPad and the Kindle Fire in the same sentence should be ashamed of themselves. The Kindle Fire is more like a poorly functioning, oversized iPod Touch than it is similar to an iPad. If I happened to be poor as dirt, I'd rather have a smooth functioning iPod Touch instead of a Kindle Fire.

Amazon an their whole Kindle is a joke to me.
My girlfriend got the low end monchrome kindle( what a piece of junk) from them clowns over at Best Brick, I mean Best Buy. Set up was a pain, and buying a book doesn't allow the user to be prompted with a second tier option that allows them to reconsider buying the product. You press pay and ch ching it goes. I hate that. To buy something I want to enter a code damnit!
And when the kindle is off the tablet displays advertising. What a joke!!
And it should be apparent that Amazon doesn't make those kindles. They buy them from an OEM
in China or Korea.
What's funny is that iBooks on iPod touch, iPhone or any Mac is a vastly superior experience than any of those kindles.

Been using the Fire for about 2 weeks (prepping it for my wife). Mostly using it for the wonderful selection of FREE movies & TV (classic, camp & comedy for me). The on/off button issue is not an issue; external volume adjustment would be convenient but my Garmin GPS operates similarly. The wife will also enjoy reading magazines and books. The size factor is easy to carry around in a purse or jacket.

And the upcoming software tweaks will be welcome but even here, it's not a deal breaker. If Apple launches a 7 or 8" iPod, that would be interesting. But with more than 10K of Free movies & TV shows for AMZ prime members, the Fire is a win for our family. And I suspect, their 2nd gen version will only get better.

__________________________________________________ _"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." (Mark Twain)

I've never figured out all the complaining about the Kindle Fire. In the admittedly short time that I used the Fire, everything was smooth and it performed well. It's probably the best Android tablet on the market, even if it is using a proprietary interface.

I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.

How can you keep a straight face whilst comparing the "problems" the 1st gen iPad had to the issues with the Fire? Amazing.

While at Best Buy yesterday I saw a Kindle Fire for the first time. Oddly it was configured so you can't really do anything with it. Every time you tried to browse the web it instead fired up a demo slide show explaining how the great the web browser is but it wouldn't let you actually do anything. I tried firing up apps on the home screen and it took you to a demo slide show explaining how great apps are but it wouldn't actually let you do anything. Another problem was the home button which is done in software and is not displayed on the screen at all times. I would frequently wonder how the heck you get back to the home page. I didn't have any of those problems the first time I touched an iPad in the Apple Store where it was setup to be fully functional.

Apple put a lot of effort into producing a polished, well-made tablet and brought this rather polished first version to market at a price that competitors simply couldn't beat. Apple came out of the gate running, if you will, and will simply continue to up the ante with each annual update.

The competition just doesn't get it. They have been intent not on bringing out better products but on bringing out products that seem to have an edge on paper. The problem for them is that people wind up taking their half-finished products and try to make extensive use of them in their daily lives. Apple doesn't release a product before its time. The original iPad wasn't perfect but its flaws were exceedingly minor. It was ready for prime time which is why it was so wildly successful. Each version is just that much better. It's not so much about convincing consumers that Apple's products are a cut above the competition because that's a bar that is set exceedingly low. Rather, it's about making products that are so enjoyable to use on a daily basis that consumers keep coming back for more.

Let us not forget that Apple was trying with the original iPad to establish a new category and as such it wasn't a matter of offering something better than the competition but rather about convincing the average consumer that the tablet form factor was something highly desirable, that using a tablet could be an enjoyable, productive experience. Tablets failed before the iPad and would have gone on failing had the iPad not come along. This is because no one other than Apple has produced a tablet worth owning. Too many compromises.

Competitors think it's about timing and they're wrong. With the iPad setting the bar exceedingly high, it's about bringing to market a compelling product that consumers will be glad they purchased. If that means holding off on a product until it's as ready for daily use as the iPad, then that's what you do. Rushing bad products to market will only play into Apple's hands and further enhance the company's reputation. All the Fire is doing is convincing consumers that they should have bought an iPad instead. Ditto for the Playbook. What was RIM thinking. Would it have been so bad for them to have waited nine months, a year, whatever, so the Playbook they did bring to market was a more polished device. All they've managed to do is damage their reputation and lose millions. I doubt RIM will ever be able to compete in the tablet space again.

The bottom line is that consumers just want stuff that works. Apple delivers that far better than the rest and is wildly successful because of it. This is great news for consumers because it's in our best interests for excellence to be rewarded. We want companies to figure out that providing us with decent products is the way to become incredibly wealthy.

By the way, if I'm not mistaken wasn't there a recent comment from someone high up in the Sony food chain to the effect that they want to revolutionize TV because no one is making money selling TVs as we know them today. There's the problem. Sony is focussing on making a profit and Steve Jobs was focussed on revolutionizing the TV form factor. Making money and making better products are not mutually exclusive. It's the key point that most corporate types simply don't get. Make consumers happy and the rewards will be many. Focus on turning a profit and you will pay the consequences.

I like how this update makes no mention of fixing the problem where your kids can easily click and buy damn near anything b/c there are no parental controls. If you keep logged out, you can't make use of Prime streaming, which is one of the primary draws for many families.

Amazon just has to hope that profits from online sales - losses from productions costs - heavy return rate (mhoo) = some profit.

Sure, v2 will be better than v1 and so on and so on and so on... but you have to be making money at some point.

If they actually sell 5 million Fires (I very highly doubt it) then how many of those devices have to show a profit for Amazon to break even. There isn't anyone anywhere who can convince that every Fire sold will even come close to downloading enough content for the device to become profitable.

At some point or other Amazon has to show a profit with this scheme or there will be a shareholder revolt. Let's see how it goes for the next 3 earnings announcements.

I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.

Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.

The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.

Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"

Some things to consider…

Amazon may have HW issues it can't resolve until v2.

Amazon has OS/SW issues that affect the UX in a tremendous way.

Even though it's not in the iPad's league it will inevitably be compared to it so getting hte basically usablity aspects right before shipping is important.

No one expects it to be an iPad, but everyone does expect that for $200, the cost of an iPod Touch or iPhone (on contract) that basic touchscreen features work about as well.

Sure, frequent updates are expected with a new OS. I predicted this would happen just last week if the sales were good enough to warrant the push. I now predict an even bigger update coming in January. The only problem with that type of release where the basic usage isn't ironed out sufficiently is that you can lose potential users if you don't resolve it fast enough.

There release schedule is great, but so is B&N. They have a better ecosystem, mindshare, and 20% lower price over the Nook Tablet, but that won't be enough if they can't get ahead of these high-level usability issues.

As for being in the hands for Christmas, there is some truth to that depending on the circumstance but it's not the guarantee win that people make it out to be. What's the dominate tablet on the market? The iPad, of course. When was announced and demoed? Late January, 2010. When was it first sold? The WiFI version in early April, and then the WiFi+3G in late April. Now imagine if Apple decided to release it the previous November simply to make the Christmas rush and users had to wait a half a year for the SW (or worse, v2, for the HW to be right). I think it would have been a flop.

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As for being in the hands for Christmas, there is some truth to that depending on the circumstance but it's not the guarantee win that people make it out to be. What's the dominate tablet on the market? The iPad, of course. When was announced and demoed? Late January, 2010. When was it first sold? The WiFI version in early April, and then the WiFi+3G in late April. Now imagine if Apple decided to release it the previous November simply to make the Christmas rush and users had to wait a half a year for the SW (or worse, v2, for the HW to be right). I think it would have been a flop.

Speaking of Christmas... I'm guessing that come January the Fire will go wanting for buyers.

Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.

A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.

Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.

And they both will be.

It is interesting to note the relative satisfaction ratings of the Kindle Fire & iPad

If we analyse the Amazon user Star ratings as a proxy for Satisfied/Dissatisfied we come to the following results

2236 5 Star = Very Satisfied = 47.1%
907 4 Star = Satisfied = 19.1%

Total Very Satisfied + Satisfied = 66.2 %

415 2 Star Dissatisfied = 8.7%
610 1 Star Very Dissatisfied = 12.9%

Total Very Dissatisfied + Dissatisfied 21.6%

Note. There were also 577 3 Star, which I have rated neutral i.e. neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied. This takes the total No. of ratings to 4,745 = 100%. According to Amazon only bone fide buyers of Kindle Fire, so the results may accurately reflect buyer/user satisfaction.

The above user satisfaction ratings do not compare well with the iPad as can be seen by the following survey results for the first iPad.

On 21 Sept 2010 it was reported that the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) found that Apple scored an overall 86% satisfaction ratings. There were no specific numbers for the iPad but ACSI commented “People said they find the iPad more satisfying than the Mac,” ACSI’s managing director David VanAmburg told me. “And that helped goose Apple’s ranking.”

I remember a lot of people having a lot of complaints about the initial iPad, but as I recall there was a minor software update or two soon after launch that fixed some things, and then when ios 4 came to the device, everyone really started singing its praises.

Give Amazon 9 more months and see where this thing stands, these sisues will be in teh rear view mirror and the fire OS and system software will have been tuned optimized and debugged to a greater extent.

The initial launch wasnt perfect software wise, but it is more important for Amazon to have it in peoples hands at Christmas than to have perfect software at launch, and if the software update is availible by Christmas, no worries, all the new users will get teh new software when they fire the devices up so problem solved.

Some actor playing the roll of hippie who started some little fruit stand in Cupertino Ca once said "Great artists ship!"

You're being way to kind to the Fire and Amazon. Your bias is pretty obvious.

Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.

A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.

Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.

And they both will be.

It is interesting to note the relative satisfaction ratings of the Kindle Fire & iPad

If we analyse the Amazon user Star ratings as a proxy for Satisfied/Dissatisfied we come to the following results

2236 5 Star = Very Satisfied = 47.1%
907 4 Star = Satisfied = 19.1%

Total Very Satisfied + Satisfied = 66.2 %

415 2 Star Dissatisfied = 8.7%
610 1 Star Very Dissatisfied = 12.9%

Total Very Dissatisfied + Dissatisfied 21.6%

Note. There were also 577 3 Star, which I have rated neutral i.e. neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied. This takes the total No. of ratings to 4,745 = 100%. According to Amazon only bone fide buyers of Kindle Fire, so the results may accurately reflect buyer/user satisfaction.

The above user satisfaction ratings do not compare well with the iPad as can be seen by the following survey results for the first iPad.

On 21 Sept 2010 it was reported that the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) found that Apple scored an overall 86% satisfaction ratings. There were no specific numbers for the iPad but ACSI commented People said they find the iPad more satisfying than the Mac, ACSIs managing director David VanAmburg told me. And that helped goose Apples ranking.

Speaking of Christmas... I'm guessing that come January the Fire will go wanting for buyers.

Maybe we'll see a true Fire sale... $149.

I'm wagering it will have momentum to push it through the year. I'm sure there will be some slow down as the next iPad hits shelves but I don't see them as being real competitors due to their wide price points and capabilities.

Look at the first Kindle. It wasn't a great product and it cost $400 yet sold out in hours. It was US only and they were able to ride that device for a year-and-hald before the Kindle 2 came on the market. Jump to the Kindle Touch which is a great eReader, so even with these rushed-to-market products I think Amazon has a chance to make the Fire a popular device, and eventually a profitable device.

If Amazon's sales are indicative of an eventual economics of scale that could make each unit at least break even then I think we'll be hearing about a major update in January, and within 2012 a larger tablet that's even more full featured.

PS: Does Amazon have a proper SDK built for the Fire or are only letting select devs make 3rd-party apps at this time?

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

This thing was hyped, intentionally or not, as an iPad killer. Cheaptards, err I mean price conscious consumers thought they were getting an iPad for a third of the price. Now they are finding out different and are complaining? I don't understand.

Nonsense. It's a version 1.0, and it's useful for reading books and other media, which is what it's supposed to do. I'd say that it's best as a good second machine for an iPad owner who doesn't want to lug the thing around and try to wield it just to read something, except that I bought one for a girlfriend, who is an Apple user and who doesn't own an iPad, and she loves it too. For reading books. Which is what this version is meant for.

A really bone-headed thought, not worth repeating.

Could it better? Sure. So could the iPad.

And they both will be.

The problem with Amazon is that they have to manufacture a few to get it right. Speaking as a former of an iPad and now iPad 2, they were both near as perfect as can be right out of the gate. There were little to no flaws from my perspective.

So maybe the Kindle Fire will better someday, but it will cost Amazon a fortune to keep trying. Apple has already sold millions and millions and have $81B in the bank so they can afford to keep manufacturing the succeeding generations as they keep selling millions and millions. They are on a roll.

By the way, I've never once thought of using my iPad as "lugging" and "wielding". It's been a trusty companion since day one.

I'm wagering it will have momentum to push it through the year. I'm sure there will be some slow down as the next iPad hits shelves but I don't see them as being real competitors due to their wide price points and capabilities.

Look at the first Kindle. It wasn't a great product and it cost $400 yet sold out in hours. It was US only and they were able to ride that device for a year-and-hald before the Kindle 2 came on the market. Jump to the Kindle Touch which is a great eReader, so even with these rushed-to-market products I think Amazon has a chance to make the Fire a popular device, and eventually a profitable device.

If Amazon's sales are indicative of an eventual economics of scale that could make each unit at least break even then I think we'll be hearing about a major update in January, and within 2012 a larger tablet that's even more full featured.

PS: Does Amazon have a proper SDK built for the Fire or are only letting select devs make 3rd-party apps at this time?

The original Kindles and the succeeding updates, including the latest models, do what they're supposed to do and they do it well... and for a very reasonable price.

The Fire on the other hand is much more specialized [with relation to the target audience] and costs twice the price... and doesn't do what it's supposed to do particularly well.

The other e-reader Kindle models... smashing success throughout the coming year... but I still estimate the the Fire will flop badly after the holiday season... update or no update.

The other e-reader Kindle models... smashing success throughout the coming year... but I still estimate the the Fire will flop badly after the holiday season... update or no update.

I'll make you a wager. How about a $25 gift card to an Apple Store. But how do we determine if it will flop or if it will be a success. A new model within a year? info about sales (something they typically don't do)? A new Kindle Fire size next year?

PS:Whatever happened to Pixel QI? That was suppose to be the great saviour for allowing longterm reading on eInk and outdoors, and allowing video playback with color as needed. I assume Amazon looked into it. I wonder what the problem was with that technology.

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